Port freight
Cardiff · January to March 2026
Cardiff moved 556,680 tonnes of freight in January to March 2026 — the 31st-busiest of the 53 UK major ports that quarter, on provisional figures.
Read from the Department for Transport’s PORT0502 table, in the vintage we archived on 11 August 2026.
556,680
tonnes
Freight through Cardiff, both directions, January to March 2026
Provisional — the publisher will revise this quarter
That is 0.5% of all freight through UK major ports in January to March 2026.
Its busiest quarter on our record was January to March 2010, at 615,000 tonnes — 9% above where it is now. The record starts in January to March 2009.
The busiest UK major ports in January to March 2026
- … 20 ports between
- out of 53 UK major ports reporting that quarter
Tonnage in both directions, as published. “Major port” is the publisher’s own unit, and some of them are more than one place: Grimsby and Immingham are counted together, as are Tees and Hartlepool.
Every quarter on record
One cell per quarter from 2009 Q1 to 2026 Q1, shaded from this port’s own quietest quarter to its busiest. Quarters the publisher marked as not applicable are left blank rather than read as zero.
The last three years, quarter by quarter
| Quarter | Tonnage | Rank among ports |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q1 | 556,680 tonnes | 31st |
| 2025 Q4 | 528,505 tonnes | 33rd |
| 2025 Q3 | 497,368 tonnes | 34th |
| 2025 Q2 | 452,289 tonnes | 33rd |
| 2025 Q1 | 449,013 tonnes | 34th |
| 2024 Q4 | 402,058 tonnes | 34th |
| 2024 Q3 | 420,124 tonnes | 34th |
| 2024 Q2 | 391,170 tonnes | 36th |
| 2024 Q1 | 292,880 tonnes | 37th |
| 2023 Q4 | 256,604 tonnes | 37th |
| 2023 Q3 | 289,050 tonnes | 37th |
| 2023 Q2 | 279,666 tonnes | 38th |
How these figures are read
Figures are tonnage in both directions, in thousand tonnes as published and shown here in tonnes. The publisher’s own four-quarter totals and percentage-change columns are not used: every comparison on this page is calculated from the quarters themselves.
The publisher marks this quarter provisional. Provisional quarters are revised, and when they are, the change is logged in our corrections log.